BLOG NINE

"When working with special education teachers what are your challenges? Strengths? What could be done to increase your skills in this area?"

While I do not work directly with any SPED teachers, I do have SPED para-professionals in two of my classes.  I find my biggest challenge is that I do not always clearly articulate my expectations for what the para is supposed to do during the class period.  While I always have materials ready for him, I feel like at time he is not doing exactly what I want, but I realize this is probably because I do not make my expectations clear.  However, in general I do prepare the materials and answer keys for my para and I feel that this makes it a lot easier on him.  Furthermore, it is also good to have him in the classroom because he can keep an eye on the special education students and let me know who might need some extra attention.  In order to increase my skills in this area I think I need to get a bit better at my communication with my para.  I think it would be useful to meet with him on Monday mornings to go over my lessons for the week and to give him a head's up on what he will be doing during the classes that week.  This way he can also ask me any questions he has and I can make sure he understands his role that week. 

BLOG EIGHT

"When using technology with your students, what are your challenges?  Strengths? What could be done to increase your usage of technology in the classroom?"

I use technology almost every day in my Algebra Extensions classes.  Students use chromebooks and work on a program called Ascend, which has them work on lessons based on their individual needs and levels.  I have also used the chromebooks for partner math games such as jeopardy.  Overall the use of technology in my class works very well.  Students get excited about using laptops, especially when we play games on them.  They are still doing math but the fact that they get to do it on a computer makes them more engaged.  One of the challenges I have is that some students will go on to other websites and will not do the assigned work.  To counteract this issue I have set up a table in the back of my room and students who are working on the computers sit at this table and their computer screens are visible to me so I can make sure that they are on task.  I use a decent amount of technology in my classroom so I don't think I need to increase usage at this point.

BLOG SEVEN

"How prepared do you feel in effectively teaching your students in reading word problems?  Is this one of your strengths?  A weakness? 

Have you started to plan to the Common Core Standards?  If you have, how is that going?  If you haven’t, why not?  What support do you need?"

We are currently focusing on reading word problems in my Algebra Extensions class, so I feel that teaching this is one of my strengths.  I have taught them multiple methods to solve word problems, but the consistent things among these methods is to always reread the problem and to underline any important information.  We have also gone over important definitions of words that often come up in word problems, and what mathematical operation these words represent.  One method that has been effective is the star method.  The paper is split into five parts [looks like a star].  The first section is where they put the actual word problem and where they underline and circle important parts.  In the second section they write what they already know about the answer.  The third section is for coming up with a method to solve the problem and/or setting up equations, and the fourth section is where they actually solve the equation.  The final section is where they put the answer, as well as determine if the answer makes sense.

My district has emphasized planning to the Common Core Standards in the math department.  Our main focus right now is implementing the eight standards for mathematical practice in our daily lesson plans.  In every lesson we are supposed to use standards one, make sense of problems and persevere in solving them, and six, attend to precision.  In addition to these two standards we are supposed to choose one more standard to focus on during every lesson.  We have a lot of support in our district regarding common core in math, so it is going well so far. I have been really trying to work in standard four, which is modeling with mathematics   I try to always make real world connections with whatever we are learning in class that day.

BLOG SIX

 "Post a reflection to your blog based on your practice as it relates to what you learn from the article. How effectively is your well classroom management system working at this point in the year?  What are your struggles?  What are your successes?"

I read the article "Classroom Management: Ten Teacher-Tested Tips" by Gary Hopkins.  The article gave several ideas for effective classroom management from teachers who have had success with managing their classrooms.  I notice that many of the tips given in the article are things that I have tried or do now, but I do not do them consistently or with the necessary precision.  For example, as the article mentions I do a countdown in my class to get my students' attention. Sometimes I will count the amount of time after the countdown that students are still talking and will make the class stay after for that amount of time.  The article suggests a similar idea, but emphasizes the importance of being consistent. I am certainly not consistent with this practice and know it is something I need to work on.

In general my classroom management is probably the aspect of teaching that I struggle the most with.  My biggest struggle is remaining consistent.  Some days I will consistently give out consequences, and other days I will be a bit lax.  I struggle a lot with getting students to be quiet and listen while I am instructing.  I tend to yell over my students a lot and seem to constantly be trying to get their attention.  I have not yet found an effective way to do this.  However, I have had some successes with classroom management as well.  Most of the successes have been with individual students.  There are certain students who were really difficult at the beginning of the semester, and I find now that I do not have to redirect them as often and they call out and misbehave less.  I think this has happened because I have created better relationships with these students.  There are still some students who cause me issues, but I definitely see an improvement with some.

BLOG FIVE

"Reflect on your use of assessment in the classroom.  On a scale of 1-10, ten being the highest, how would you rate yourself? What are your plans for becoming a "10" if you are not already there? How are you using assessment in the classroom to guide your instruction? Describe how assessment results are use to differentiate instruction within your class."

I would rate myself at a "6" for assessment.  In my Algebra Extensions class I often use exit tickets to assess my students, but I am not consistent with it, and believe I need to be more consistent so that I can better see where all of my students are at.  I originally used assessments to split my students into three groups for station rotation.  Students are organized based upon ability level.  This allows me to successfully differentiate instruction because I focus on different topics with different students based on their examples.  For example, we are currently doing a unit on fractions.  For my lower students we are working on visually representing fractions, as well as important fraction definitions.  With my higher-level students I am working on word problems involving fractions, and even having them write their own word problems. 

Blog Four

“Reflect on your time in the classroom to this point.  How are you feeling emotionally, physically?  Do you feel that you are getting through to your most difficult students? What strategies are working?  What strategies are not?   What are your next steps with student engagement within your classroom?"

Teaching is definitely a challenging endeavor.  I am both emotionally and physically exhausted, but it is worth it because I believe I am making a difference.  With regards to my most difficult students, some days I feel like I successfully get through to them, and other days I feel very lost and confused on how to reach them.  I have certainly created better relationships with my students in general, but I am still struggling with investing and motivating a lot of them.  Some strategies that have been working are doing stations: one station students work with a paraprofessional, one station they work on a math program on chromebooks, and then the third station is instruction with me.  This has been effective because at my station I am working with much smaller groups of students and it is a lot easier to get them engaged and to make sure I am addressing the needs of all students.  One strategy that I have not been able to effectively implement is playing games in class.  I thought review games would get students more engaged, but with any I have tried it ends up just being a select few students doing the work and many students not participating.  In order to encourage more student engagement I want to do more partner work.  I find that in larger groups not everyone gets involved, but I would like to do some partner projects. My students seem to be more engaged when they work with others, but I want to make sure that each student is contributing, thus why I want to have them work in pairs.